Seriously though, gender roles are another dumb thing. I know plenty if IT girls who whup my ass with their sk1llz, and I know at least one who's a hell of a lot better at fixing cars/carpentry/electrical work than I am. And I love to cook and know how to sew.

The fact of the matter is it is an necessary evil. If you want a job, you need to take life too seriously from at least 9 to 5 in the afternoon. In addition, professionalism is kind of a double edged sword. If you work for someone who has been in the field for a few years, their sense of professionalism is a bit arrogant and snide, which is hardly professional behavior.

That kind of behavior irritates me, people who think that their title gives them clemency from acting like a self-important ass. Yes, filling tons of important duties does command some respect, but people tend to lose sight of whether they're getting that respect or not, and end up treating everyone like they don't know their importance.

Professionalism is important if you are younger than your co-workers and want to be taken seriously. An odd downside (other than the uppity jerks) is that once a professional-only attitute is established, it's difficult to socialize or even have a personal conversation.

In IT it's a little easier, people tend to hold some faith in that whole "my kid can actually manage to program the VCR" mentality. In my work environment I've found that once you prove yourself to not just be a stupid kid trying to make more money than you should at your age, they warm up to you and start making the first moves towards more personal relationships.

professionalism is giving 2 weeks notice when the bastards never gave you a raise.its not looking up peoples sensitive information that you have access to,and its being able to separate what you want to do from what you have to do - and being able to do it calmly and with poise.